Parliament and government composition database (ParlGov):
An infrastructure for empirical information on parties, elections and governments in modern democracies.

Holger Döring and Philip Manow
University of Bremen -- Centre for Social Policy Research (ZeS)

Version 11/07 -- 26 July 2011


CREDITS

ParlGov contributors

Please note that institutional affiliations refer to the respective institution researchers were located at the time of contributing to the project.
Project leaders

    * Holger Döring 2005-2011
    * Philip Manow 2004-2011

Institutional affiliation

    * University of Bremen, Centre for Social Policy Research (ZeS) 2010-2011
    * European University Institute (EUI) 2009-2010
    * University of Heidelberg 2009-2010
    * University of Konstanz 2007-2009
    * Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies (MPIfG) 2004-2007

Major contributors

    * Jan Biesenbender (University of Konstanz) 2008-2010
    * Dominic Heinze (MPIfG and University of Bonn) 2006-2007
    * Jens Hoffmeister (underline webdesign Berlin) 2010
    * Valentin Schröder (University of Bremen) 2010-2011
    * Mathias Steudtner (Mittweida) 2007-2008
    * Hendrik Zorn (MPIfG) 2004

Contributors

We would like to thank the following people for contributing support, ideas, and encouragement.

    * Hanna Bäck (University of Mannheim) 2010-2011
    * Micha Bächle (University of Konstanz) 2009
    * Florian Beyer (University of Konstanz) 2008-2009
    * Christian Breunig (MPIfG and University of Seattle) 2006-2008
    * Jonathan Bright (European University Institute) 2011
    * Lars Brückner (University of Bremen) 2010
    * Patrick Dumont (University of Luxembourg) 2010-2011
    * Sebastian Eppner (University of Potsdam) 2009-2011
    * Timm Frerk (University of Bremen) 2011
    * Fabio Franchino (University of Milan) 2008-2010
    * Mark Franklin (European University Institute) 2009-2010
    * Simon Franzmann (University of Cologne) 2006-2011
    * Johannes Freudenreich (University of Potsdam) 2009-2011
    * Steffen Ganghof (MPIfG and University of Potsdam) 2005-2011
    * Frank Henze (Brandenburg Technical University of Cottbus) 2005-2011
    * Johan Hellström (University of Umeå) 2009-2011
    * Bjørn Høyland (University of Oslo) 2009
    * Sebastian Hübers (MPIfG and University of Tübingen) 2006
    * Sebastian Jäckle (University of Freiburg) 2010
    * Johannes Kleibl (University of Essex) 2010
    * Jürgen Lautwein (MPIfG) 2007
    * Volker Lindhauer (University of Bremen) 2011
    * Conor Little (European University Institute) 2010-2011
    * Mikko Mattila (University of Helsinki) 2009
    * Peter Mair (European University Institute) 2009-2011
    * Quinton Mayne (European University Institute) 2009-2010
    * Monika Mühlböck (IHS Vienna) 2009-2010
    * Sinziana Popa (MPIfG and Duke University) 2007
    * Phillip Rehm (WZB and Duke University) 2007
    * Jan Rose (Berlin) 2005-2011
    * Armin Schäfer (MPIfG) 2005-2007
    * Julia Sievers (University of Bremen) 2006-2011
    * Paweł Szczerbak (Heidelberg University) 2010-2011
    * Guido Thiemann (IHS Vienna) 2006-2011
    * Alexander Trechsel (European University Institute) 2009-2011
    * Luca Verzichelli (University of Siena) 2007-2011
    * Nina Wiesehomeier (Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lisbon) 2008-2011

Open source software

    * Python and BeautifulSoup, Django, Febrl, Trac
    * R and RSQLite
    * SQLite and SQLite Manager

Icons and pictures

    * Famfamfam flag and silk icons
    * Wikimedia Commons


CHANGES

All significant changes between ParlGov stable releases are documented. Minor corrections of dates and names are not reported.

Version 11/07 ¶

Released 26 July 2011 -- milestone:1.2 -- St. Gallen

Data ¶
New information ¶

    * elections 2011 added: IRL, EST, CYP, FIN, PRT, CAN
    * cabinets added: FRA Fillon III, IRL Kenny, EST Ansip IV, SVN Pahor II, PRT Coelho, FIN Katainen
    * added NIR -- parties only

    * updated from seats to votes level data: AUT, CYP, POL
    * JPN: added elections and cabinets from 1945 to 1958

Corrections and updates ¶

    * recoded nationalist, fascist and right-wing populist party families into 'right wing' and added former classifications as additional party families to table 'party family'
    * removed some entries used to define full party names from table party_change and added the information to json field in party table (eg. DEU: CDU, CSU; SWE: SAP)
    * replaced missing 'left_right' party positions with 'state_market' values if available (esp. relevant for Benoit/Laver 2006 data)
    * corrected documentation of variable 'date' in 'election' table
    * CYP: removed elections and cabinets prior to 1976 (Polity IV score)
          o added Kyprianou III, Kyprianou V, Vassiliou II, Klerides II, Klerides IV, Papadopoulos II

    * AUT election 1995: added turnout data, votes and Nein party, changed vote share
    * AUT cabinet 1945: Figl I split into two cabinets
    * AUT cabinet 2002: Schuessel I split into two cabinets -- three month constrain
    * AUT cabinet 2003: Schuessel II split into two cabinets taking into account FPÖ split (FPÖ, BZÖ)
    * AUT election 1949 to 1962: coded KPO as Communist alliance
    * AUT election 1999 and 2002: corrected seats total
    * AUT election 2008: corrected vote share
    * AUT election EP 1996: corrected vote share
    * AUT election EP 1999: corrected valid votes
    * BEL cabinet 1991: recoded Martens IX starting date -- three month constrain
    * BEL cabinet 2007: Verhofstadt II split into two cabinets -- three month constrain
    * BEL cabinet 2010: Leterme III set start of cabinet to date of election (2010-06-13) -- three month constrain
    * BEL party: KPB-PCB split in 1989 coded (KP and PC); reassigned Ray party expert identifier to PC
    * BGR election 1991: added parties
    * BIH party: EU Profiler removed all links to Croatian parties -- ticket:72
    * BIH party: Benoit/Laver removed Croatian HDZ link
    * CHE cabinet 2008: added Bundesrat 2008 -- ticket:60
    * CHE election 1983: added 'others' to election, updated seat composition
    * CHE party: recoded LdU-AdI (party_id 1646) into LdU-ADI (party_id 1264)
    * CYP cabinet 2008: recoded ADK into EDEK
    * CYP election 2006: corrected KISOS and updated (votes) results
    * CYP election EP 2004: added votes and EDEK result
    * CYP party: added 'EDEK' to party name of Movement for Social Democracy and updated short party name
    * CZE cabinet 2006: recoded start date of Topolanek I
    * CZE cabinet 2009: updated start date of Fisher cabinet to PM appointment
    * CZE election 2002: recoded date of election to last election date
    * DEU cabinet 1960: Adenauer V split into two cabinets taking into account DP split
    * DEU election 1949: added SSW
    * DEU election 1953 to 2005: corrected valid votes -- ticket:67
    * DEU election 1961: recoded GB/BHE into an electoral alliance (GDP) between GB/BHE and DP
    * DEU election 2009: corrected electorate, total votes, valid votes
    * DEU election EP 1979 to 2004: updated from seats to votes level data
    * DEU election: electoral alliance added for CDU/CSU -- election results still coded at the the CDU and CSU level
    * DEU party: updated predecessor/successor entries Linke and added 2005 electoral alliance
    * DNK election 1945 to 1950: updated sources
    * DNK election 1945 to 1994: corrected number of seats
    * DNK election 1947: added HV
    * DNK election 1957: corrected total seats
    * DNK election 1973 to 1977: added SV as alliance member
    * DNK election 1973: added DU as alliance member
    * DNK party: recoded party family Dansk Folkeparti
    * ESP cabinet 1977 and 1979: Gonzalez renamed into Suarez
    * ESP election 1977: corrected and updated results
    * ESP party: recoded CHA (party_id 1675) into CA (party_id 1367)
    * EST cabinet 2009: Ansip II split into two cabinets
    * EST election 1992 and 1995: updated source, added turnout data, corrected and updated results
    * EST party: added V, EPL, Metsa, ERKL, KunRoh, ETRE, OIG, TEE
    * FIN election 1948 to 1983: updated data sources for RKP-SFP and AS
    * FIN election 1958 and 1962: removed SKL
    * FIN election 1966: added SKDL/TPSL alliance
    * FIN election 1987: corrected SKDL vote share
    * FIN election 1991 and 1995: recoded SKYP results into SEP
    * FIN election 1995: added VSL
    * FIN election 2003: corrected election date
    * FIN election EP 1999: corrected number of seats
    * FIN party: minor updates on party names and predecessor/successor parties
    * FIN party: SKP-97 party names changed into SKP-Y
    * FRA election 2007: corrected vote share and seats, added votes
    * FRA election EP 2009: corrected number of seats Gauche
    * FRA party: added UEM
    * FRA party: recoded UMP Benoit/Laver ID
    * FRA party: removed The Right (party_id 157) duplicate of Other Right (party_id 285)
    * GBR election 1974 to 1987: calculated 'vote_share' for some parties from Northern Ireland -- ticket:66
    * GBR election 1983 and 1987: recoded LD as Alliance
    * GBR election EP: added notes about vote share in regions
    * GBR election EP 1999: corrected vote share and number of valid votes
    * GBR party: updated EES IDs for SNP, Plaid, UKIP, PWCL
    * GDR cabinet 1990: Maizere coded changes in party composition and defectors
    * GDR election 1990: coded electoral alliances and its members, corrected number of votes
    * GDR party: updated all entries; coded party changes (including DEU parties)
    * GRC party: added names for KODISO
    * GRC party: recoded and merged EK into EDIK
    * ISL cabinet 1944 and 1946: Thors II, Thors III recoded Ab into So
    * ISL cabinet 1979: Groendal changed into caretaker cabinet
    * ISL election 1946 to 1953: replaced Ab by So
    * ISL election 1967: added OS and updated source
    * ISL party: corrected 'þ' transcription into 'th' and removed remaining capitalisation of party names
    * ISL party: recoded Thjo (party_id 1637) into Pjo (party_id 205)
    * ITA election 1946 and 1948: recoded PLI results into UDN and BN (alliances), added alliance members
    * ITA election 1963 and 1968: recoded PNM results into PDIUM (new party)
    * ITA party: updated party names and predecessor/successor entries for Socialist parties (PSI, PSDI, PSU)
    * JPN cabinet 1980: Ito removed -- three month constrain
    * JPN cabinet 1993: added NP
    * JPN cabinet 1994: removed LP
    * JPN cabinet 1998: split Obuchi into three cabinets
    * JPN cabinet 2009: renamed Hatoyama into Hatoyama Y
    * JPN election 1958: added votes
    * JPN election 1960 to 1967: added number of votes
    * JPN election 1969 and 1979: corrected number of votes
    * JPN election 2005: corrected number of seats (all parties except LDP and DPJ)
    * JPN election 2009: updated source and added NPD
    * JPN party, election, cabinet: recoded DSP (party_id 1053) into SDP (party_id 940) for elections and cabinets after 1994
    * JPN party: recoded NK into K(CGP)
    * JPN party: unified short names to english version -- ticket:63
    * LTU cabinet 2008: Kubilius II added TPP
    * LTU election 1992: added votes and parties
    * LTU party: added VPJST and LLL
    * LVA election 2010: added seats total
    * NLD cabinet 1977: Den Uyl II; set start of cabinet to date of election (1977-05-25) -- three month constrain
    * NLD election 1977: CDA as electoral alliance (ARP, CHU, KVP)
    * NLD election EP 1999: added electoral alliance SGP/GPV/RPF
    * NOR cabinet 1940: removed Nygaardsvold II
    * NOR cabinet 1945: Gerhardsen I coded as caretaker and parties added
    * NOR election 1961 to 1969: recoded SV into SF
    * NOR election 1973: added SV alliance members
    * NOR party: updated RV names
    * NZL election 1999: changed number of seats NZFP
    * POL cabinet 1991: Olszewski recoded WAK into ZChN (alliance member) and removed PCD
    * POL cabinet 1992 and 1993: Suchocka I and II added PSL, PCD and recoded WAK into ZChN (alliance member)
    * POL party: removed L; recoded PD into UW-PD
    * PRT election 1979: corrected seats of AD alliance members, added Ref and updated source
    * PRT election EP 1994: corrected vote share
    * PRT party: added PAN; recoded party family PSD; removed Benoit/Laver ID from PDC
    * SVN party: removed SA and LU
    * SWE election 1985: updated source, corrected turnout data, coded alliance member

Webpage ¶

    * party -- show information about electoral alliances and alliance members in election results (superscript symbol)
    * party -- show party foundation date
    * party -- show only year of party change if date is coded as 1 July (default for unknown day/month)
    * election, cabinet -- show name of party for elections and cabinets based on information in table 'party_name_change' (if available)
    * election -- moved information about 'Changes of party composition in parliament' into experimental version
    * election -- show only results for more than 0.5% vote share
    * cabinet -- don't show termination date (experimental version observation only)
    * external -- corrected publication year references for Castles/Mair, Ray and EU Profiler
    * data sources -- cleaned up names of some of the entries

Database ¶

    * 'view_cabinet' -- fixed issue in view definition to include all cabinets -- ticket:65
    * new table -- 'cabinet_support' to include parties that support (minority) cabinets (experimental version)
    * new table -- 'party_family' to include additional party families for a party (experimental version)
    * 'view_election' -- added variable 'previous_cabinet_id'
    * tables 'party', 'party_change', 'party_name_change' -- added column 'data_source'
    * table 'party' -- added column 'description'
    * table 'party' -- added column 'foundation_date' (experimental version)
    * table 'party_change' -- added variable 'type_id' (experimental version)


Version 10/11 ¶

Released 16 November 2010 -- milestone:1.1 -- Florence
Summary ¶

    * complete database refactoring -- recoding of table/variable names and all id variables -- see below
    * new web design -- Jens Hoffmeister (underline webdesign Berlin) 2010
    * new data: European Election Study (2009) party ids added; Belgium, United Kingdom, Portugal, Latvia updated from seats to votes level data; Swiss cabinets since 1945 added
    * recent elections and cabinets until October 2010 and data corrections -- see below

Data ¶
New information ¶

    * elections 2010 added: HUN, GBR, CZE, NLD, SVK, BEL, SWE, AUS, LVA
    * cabinets 2010 added: NLD Balkenende V, ROU Bejinariu, HUN Orban II, GBR Cameron, JPN Kan, FIN Kiviniemi, AUS Gillard, SVK Radicova, CZE Necas, SWE Reinfeldt, AUS Gillard II, LVA Dombrovskis III,

    * updated from seats to votes level data: BEL, GBR, PRT, LVA

    * European Election Study (2009) party ids added
    * CHE all cabinets since 1945 added
    * POL parliament_change -- specification of party composition changes in 2007 parliament

Corrections ¶

    * BEL cabinet -- recoded party ids for CVP and SP to CD&V/N-VA and SPA/Spirit for all cabinets after 2003 election
    * BEL cabinet -- removed orphaned observations from 'cab_party' (old_cabID 19600, 19731, 19732, 19760)
    * BEL cabinet -- renamed Eyskens 1981 into 'Eyskens M'
    * BGR cabinet -- Stanishev cabinet coding of BSP as KzB
    * BIH party -- added parties (old_partyID: 11, 15, 21, 22, 26, 30) to match all CMP parties
    * CAN cabinet -- Diefenbaker II and III added
    * CAN cabinet -- St-Laurent split into I, II, II
    * CAN cabinet -- King III dates corrected
    * CZE cabinet -- Tosovsky coded as 'caretaker'
    * CZE election -- recoding 'election_date' to last date of election and adding 'opening_date' to 'datajson'
    * CZE party -- recoded and removed HSD/SMS duplicate ('old_partyID' 52)
    * ESP election ep -- 2004 and 2009 EP election results updated with official sources
    * ESP party -- recoded I ('old_partyID' 71) into IU/PCE ('old_partyID' 57)
    * EST parties -- RKI (1992); RKI/ERSPI, ERSP, I (1995) and affected elections/cabinets -- revising
    * FIN cabinet -- Aura II corrected 'start_date' and 'end_date'
    * FIN cabinet -- Barre I, Barre II added observations for non-partisan prime ministers ('pm') to 'cabinet_party'
    * FIN cabinet -- Fagerholm II, added L (Liberals)
    * FIN cabinet -- Fagerholm III and Virolainen added Liberals
    * FIN cabinet -- Kekkonen II, added RKP
    * FIN cabinet -- Lipponen I, added VAS
    * FIN cabinet -- Lipponen II, split into II and III following resignation of VIHR
    * FIN cabinet -- Paasikivi, Fieandt, Kuuskoski, Lehto, Aura I, Aura II, Liinamaa added observations for non-partisan prime ministers ('pm') to 'cabinet_party'
    * FIN cabinet -- Sukselainen, Karjalainen, Sorsa II, Sorsa III, Holkeri, Aho recoded as several cabinets due to change in party composition
    * FRA cabinet -- Fillon I,II corrected cabinet name
    * FRA cabinet -- Barre II 'starting_date' recoded
    * GBR cabinet -- Eden government split into Eden I and Eden II
    * GBR election -- 1945 corrections
    * GER cabinet -- Adenauer II split into several cabinets and coding of party changes
    * GRC cabinet -- renamed Karamanlis cabinets to avoid duplicated cabinet names
    * HUN cabinet -- Bajnai corrected cabinet name
    * HUN cabinet -- Gyurcsan III removed SzDSz
    * ITA cabinet -- Prodi I and Amato II added observations for non-partisan prime ministers ('pm') to 'cabinet_party'
    * ITA cabinet -- Moro I government split into I, II, III and recoded later Moro governments into IV and V
    * ITA cabinet -- Spadolini and Craxi government split into I and II
    * ITA party -- PdL duplicate recoded and removed ('old_partyID' 151)
    * ITA party/alliance -- CCD/CDU unified; recoded old_partyID 140 into 53
    * JPN cabinet -- Hatoyama I added DSP and KS
    * JPN cabinet -- Koizumo II 'start_date' recoded to 2003-11-19; previous coding was linked to 2000 election results
    * JPN cabinet -- Ohira I corrected 'start_date'
    * LTU cabinet -- renamed Vagnorius cabinets by adding I and II
    * LTU party -- LSDP split into two parties and recoded pre 2001 election results of LSDP to new party ID
    * LVA cabinet -- 1998 legislative term correction of party composition for cabinets
    * LVA cabinet -- Dombrovskis 2009 added
    * LVA cabinet -- Skele I and Skele II added observations for non-partisan prime ministers ('pm') to 'cabinet_party'
    * LVA election -- revision of election results (esp. 2002) during update to vote level data
    * NLD cabinet -- coding of 'defector' parties
    * MLT cabinet -- renamed cabinets to avoid duplicated cabinet names
    * NLD cabinet -- Den Uyl government split into Den Uyl I and Den Uyl II (caretaker)
    * NZL cabinet -- Howard I split into two cabinets taking 1951 election into account
    * POL cabinet -- Kaczynski I, II, III, IV recoded into one cabinet -- following more specified cabinet coding rules
    * POL cabinet -- Marcinkiewicz II corrected 'startingDate' from 2005 to 2006
    * POL cabinet -- Pawlak I -- added party
    * POL cabinet -- Suchocka II coded as 'caretaker'
    * POL election -- LiD dissolution in April 2008 coded
    * POL election -- 1992 PO recoded into POC
    * POL party -- recoding of some party families
    * ROU cabinet -- Athanasiu, Bejinariu coded as 'caretaker'
    * SVN cabinet -- Jansa 'startingDate' recoded to 2004-12-03; previous coding was linked to 2000 election results
    * SVN cabinet -- Peterle parties recoded
    * SVN cabinet -- Drnovsek II removed ZS
    * SVN election -- 1990 election added
    * SVN election -- added two seats to each election one for Italian and the other for Hungarian national community seat
    * SVN party -- SLS/SKD recoded into SLS

    * corrected differences between coded and calculated (votes/votes_valid) vote shares -- except PRT (ticket:56)

Webpage ¶

    * new web design

    * further information about cabinet below list of parties in cabinet
    * list 'comment' in documentation of table variables
    * show 0 seats on election result pages
    * government type (minority, minimum winning, oversized) on cabinet pages and cabinet index ticket:36
    * legend for tables on index pages of elections and cabinets
    * Famfamfam silk icons for links to downloads
    * information about recalculated seat shares in cabinet page
    * smaller font size for election date on list of cabinets

Database ¶

    * complete database refactoring
          o renaming of tables and variables
          o unique primary keys in all tables (variable 'id')
                + old id variables are kept in core tables with prefix 'old_' (eg. 'old_partyID' in party table)
          o foreign key enforcement (in Django)
          o 'data_json' variable for additional information in some tables (experimental version)
          o coding of all 'id' variables in 'info_id' -- except variables with an own table (e.g. country, party, election)

Version 10/02 ¶

Released 25 February 2010 -- milestone:1.0 -- Turin
